Thatch

@Southernhighlander I hope you don't disagree that the OP should check with his AHJ before developing a business plan around the fact that this will be okay.

You site no regulations that you needed to comply with to make your local AHJ happy. Is the point that you are "just doing it" because you are in a rural area or is there part of the building code that we are not aware of that would allow such storage? Please share with us how you are making this happen.

@dhdunbar is who you want to hear from. Hopefully he will respond. He is retired from ATF and began consulting for DSP's in 2012.

Silk, any chance of a 15 second video

I agree and make sure your investors know that this is a long haul. If they are looking for a quick ROI or a sure thing, they will be disappointed.

A well-known example of a positive azeotrope is 95.63% ethanol and 4.37% water https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azeotrope

I think this is over with. I sent two of our folks to what was supposed to be the "last" class. Also sent another person to iStills class which was quite comprehensive but mostly focused on iStill equipment.

Never could find one when I looked but the folks on this forum and simply searching the forum were invaluable. You might want to tell us the type of equipment you have along with your location in Ohio, what type of spirits you wish to make and if you have been granted your DSP.

We are an all malt distillery. We have both the stripping version which is a bain marie and spirits version which is direct fire. They are both 500 liter. We make both whiskey and Vodka. In our case it is not being accomplished in one run. The stripper is a bottleneck for us. We are thinking of removing the packing from the column and adding a larger condenser to increase throughput. You need to be aware that the throughput numbers on the Genio web site are for a 25% wash whereas ours is less than 10%. The stripping run takes over 10 hours with a 8-10% wash.

Yes, what does your insurance company and AHJ mandate. Ours liked the RKI and fans turning on. We also have audible and visual alarms. Your insurance company and AHJ may not care. Sometimes this is not about logic but instead about dotting the i's and crossing the t's.

No, 960 gallons with the additional control areas you said you had approved.

This is a code review for a classification change from F-1 to H-3. Although this references mostly Ohio Building Code the numbers should correspond directly to IBC and your local code. Bottom line is, there's a lot more to it. I believe that Scott Moore of @DalkitaConstruction may have just joined the forum. Scott consults on these matters and hopefully he will chime in on this thread. Without knowing what you are adjacent to, it is not possible to comment further. Preliminary Code Review to Convert Existing Malt House F-1/S-1 to H-3 Existing Building Use Group H-3 - Distillery and spirit storage Table 307.1(1) – Spirits at 50% alcohol or less is a 1C flammable liquid and requires an H-3 use group when the MAQ of 120 gal x 2 = 240 gal is in use or storage is exceeded. OBC 414 – Hazardous Materials 414.1.3 – Report required to be submitted to AHJ describing max quantities and types of hazardous materials to be in-use or stored 414.3 Ventilation – Mechanical ventilation required. 1 CFM/SF continuous in areas or spaces where flammable vapors may be emitted due to processing, use, handling or storage. Make up air likely required. 414.5.1 – Explosion control is not required per OBC Table 414.5.1 – 1C not listed. 414.5.2 – Standby power may be required for the continuous ventilation. This would be exempt if the 1C flammable liquid is stored in containers not exceeding 6.5 gal. IFC 2704.2.1 – Spill control needed if storage is in individual vessels of more than 55 gals. The barrels are smaller than 55 gal so no spill control needed. IFC 2704.2.2 – Secondary containment is not required. OBC – 415 Detailed requirements for H Groups 415.3 – Fire Alarm monitoring of sprinkler riser. Existing, complies. 415.4 – Automatic sprinkler. Design should be review for the change of use/occupancy. 415.5.1 – Emergency alarm. Local manual alarm outside of egress from a storage area is required. 415.6 – Greater than 25% of the perimeter wall is exterior wall, Complies. 415.6.1 – Group H minimum fire separation distance. OBC Table 602 – Exterior wall fire-resistance rating based on fire separation distance. 26’ separation distance to the east and west property lines requires a 1 HR exterior wall rating for an H use group. OBC CH 5 – Building area. Existing building area is 13,246SF is less than Table 506.2 14,000SF for a IIB, H-3. Complies without open perimeter or sprinkler area increases. OBC 706 – Fire walls. A 2 HR rated fire wall exists between the 5B (combustible) B-use office and the 2B (non-combustible) F-1/S-1 to separate building construction type. Table 706.4 requires a 3 HR rated fire wall for an H-3 use group.

Spirits in a barrel are included in the MAQ per zone. In other words, if you are F-1 the most you can have is 960 gallons MAXIMUM not in bottles. The 960 comes from 4 x 240 (4 control areas sprinkled - your distillery and 3 others). There may be no maximums in the fire code but there are in the building code.

Congrats!

According to the paper Silk posted, it does affect taste. This is part of the text: to readjust the disturbed distillate profile and the recover a profile like the original. So, maybe vodka but nothing where you are trying for taste.

I am assuming this is not an outdoor tank. If this is an indoor tank you have to be able to secure your distillery and not the individual tank. The sentence says "or", it does not say "and"

Ditto! por favor. I too would like to graduate to a continuous still some time in the future at least for stripping.

How much are you storing? How are you classified, F-1 or H-3? What is your fire marshal's goal with the fire wall? Do you have sprinklers? You might need to draw a floor plan to give you any input.

You might be referring to the proposed rule from TTB. Search on this topic on this forum TTB seeking comment on using ONLY 53G Barrels---the end of small distilling in america (?)

120 gallons if not sprinkled and 240 if sprinkled. This can be increased significantly by adding control areas. You can have up to 3 additional control areas and if they are sprinkled you may have up to 960 gallons in storage and remain and F-1 facility. If you are classified as H-3 there is no MAQ

No, oak barrels are exempt in the fire code. The commentary in the fore code defers to the building code. Basically they are saying "we agree with the MAQ's in the building I disagree. They are included in the building code but not the fire code. The "general interpretation" is incorrect.

Gotta agree with Roger. We currently Vorlauf but his statement has made me think about what we are doing. Here's the "official" reason we do it: Vorlauf is German for “recirculation.” When a mash is transferred to a lauter tun or when the mash rest has finished in an infusion mash tun, some particles of grain remain in suspension under the vessel's false bottom. ... These particles are therefore sent back into the grain bed so that they never enter the wort stream. I'm not sure how much we are keeping from our fermenters, if any, once we're through sparging.

We tried to follow Bill Owens book as published by ADI but, like I said, we did not like the taste. From Bill's book: "You could also use the “set back” which is the wash that is left in your still after a run". You might want to give it a try yourself. We make our own malt and we like the taste best using our "Vienna" two row. It has a bit more character than using pale of Pils.

We did and we stopped. I tasted bad to us.